Google Settles with FTC, “Sprint As You Go” Coming Soon: Tech Business Roundup

On Wednesday, United States District Judge Sue Robinson in Wilmington, Delaware barred Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) from demanding royalties from Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) related to 12 patents because it improperly destroyed documents linked with intellectual-property litigation. Robinson continued that the patents are unenforceable as a sanction against Rambus officials who engaged in a document-destruction campaign created to “gain a litigation advantage” in a patent-infringement lawsuit over tech for high-speed memory chips. The judge remarked that the only appropriate sanction was to find the patents unenforceable.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will modify some of its business practices in order to settle Federal Trade Commission worries that those practices could hinder competition in the markets for popular devices like smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles along with the market for online search advertising. Through the terms of the resolution, Google will honor its previous commitments to allow competitors access on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms to patents covering critical standardized technologies required to produce popular devices.

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Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) introduces its new “Sprint as you go” service (available January 25th) that offers customers an unlimited voice and data plan for a flat monthly rate without a contract. The service might be good for people who do not wish to pay full price for their smartphone nor get locked into one particular carrier for two years. Android Police says that Sprint will offer two versions of the plan — a $50 per month for feature phones such as the M400 and Array and a $70 per month non-LTE plan for the smartphones Optimus Elite and Victory.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) will launch a new line of Lumia Windows Phone devices in 2013, say sources who are familiar with the plans, who added that the firm intends to switch to an aluminum case for at least one pricy Lumia Windows Phone. Such a modification is distinct from Nokia’s traditional polycarbonate body for its Lumia products and should make the new device, codenamed Catwalk, lighter and thinner than Lumia 920.

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